When to rack

[Brewsser]

I have a 1 gallon carboy of cider that is just about 2 weeks old now. It has stopped bubbling and I've noticed it has started to clear a little. Should I rack to another carboy now or wait longer? I was also thinking of racking to another container and starting a second fermentation, should I wait longer to do this?

 

[Brewsser]

I have a 1 gallon carboy of cider that is just about 2 weeks old now. It has stopped bubbling and I've noticed it has started to clear a little. Should I rack to another carboy now or wait longer? I was also thinking of racking to another container and starting a second fermentation, should I wait longer to do this?

P.S.
I started from pasteurized, preservative free cider by adding 3 cups sugar, champagne yeast and yeast nutrient. I don't know the gravity as I am still waiting for my hydrometer to get here.

 

[ThorGodOfThunder]

You can wait a while, but most people rack when the bubbling stops. Do you plan on aging it in the secondary long? If you do, the general rule is to rack whenever you gather about 1/4" of sediment.

 

[Brewsser]

Thanks for the good tips. Yeah, I was thinking of racking to another carboy and starting a secondary fermentation by adding more sugar and yeast. Should I rack the second fermentation after it starts bubbling as well?

I was under the impression making cider took more like 4-6 weeks? Is that right? Seems like it goes a little faster.

 

[MarkKF]

I started two 5 gal. carboys last week. Bubbles slowed after 5 days. Nothing the last day. Checked SG today and its 1.000 DONE. I used 2 cups sugar per 5 gal. Fresh pressed cider and champagne yeast.

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

I'd let it sit a little longer, maybe another week/week and a half. Letting it rest on the yeast cake is ok for a while even though the active fermentation has settled. During that active fermentation the yeast has created some off flavors that you'd taste if you were to drink it right now, if you leave it in the primary for a while longer the yeast will actually start consuming the undesireables and you'll have a more mature tasting cider. This is especially important if you're going for a higher alcohol cider, which it sounds like you are. I will leave in the primarry for 6 weeks but I brew really high alcohol cider. My recipe ends up being a pound of sugar per gallon and I go 6-8 weeks in primary, 3 months in secondary, and 2-2.5 months in the tertiary to really clear it out...but in your case, with a smaller batch and a lower sugar addition, another one or two weeks in the primary won't hurt anything. Then secondary for another month. If you go for a tertiary, by that point it may be harder to find fresh cider to top off the gallon jug with, so freeze a quart for late racking.

Good luck, and enjoy it...but most of all, have a little paitience...it's hard, I know, but it pays off!!!

 

[ThorGodOfThunder]

Thanks for the good tips. Yeah, I was thinking of racking to another carboy and starting a secondary fermentation by adding more sugar and yeast. Should I rack the second fermentation after it starts bubbling as well?

I was under the impression making cider took more like 4-6 weeks? Is that right? Seems like it goes a little faster.

Why would you want a second fermentation? If you wanted to add sugar for more alcohol content you can just do that in the primary. The secondary is more for letting the liquid clear a little more, and for adding new flavors now that the yeast have calmed down a little. You *can* add sugar and yeast if you want, but its better to just do it in the primary. You can also add just the sugar. The yeast is still in there and alive, they've just run out of sugar to eat.

Fermentation takes however long it takes. Fermentation speed depends on the strain of yeast, acidity of the cider, temperature of the cider, and a bunch of other things. My last cider stopped after about 1 week. I've made fruit wines that have taken a month to stop bubbling. The best thing you can do is take a hydrometer reading. Wait a week and take another reading. If they are the same, the fermentation is done.

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

I have added more sugar in the secondary, having disolved it in warm fresh cider; I wouldn't just pour the sugar in, I've done that with Honey and it just sat at the bottom before I stirred it up to get the yeast back in suspention. I will say that if you are looking to re-sweeten the secondary you're looking at a lot longer fermentation than 4-6 weeks...it will be more like the February before you're bottling, because the secondary fermentation will take much longer, and you'll be waiting longer for it to clear...when I've added sugar to the secondary, it's been weeks before the fermentation picked up again, and I thought the racking had taken most of the yeast out of suspention and I had a stuck fermentation...if I had bottled at that point, I would have had a lot of cider to clean off the walls. So, IF YOU DO sweeten the secondary...WAIT!!!

 

[Utahbeach]

At what temperature should my tertiary fermenter be for the next 6 months? I plan to bottle in June 2019, and my basement's temperature will fluctuate between 50 degrees F in winter, up to around 62 degrees in June.

I made my cider using farm stand UV-Pasteurized juice here in New England. Started fermentation on Nov. 10, 2018, transferred to secondary after fermentation slowed on Nov. 23, 2018, got it down to 0.998 on Dec. 9, 2018, and moved to the tertiary (third fermenter) on Dec. 19, 2018. Active fermentation was at 69 degrees F, but since then I've kept it at room temp, which in my basement in winter is around 50-52 degrees F. I plan to bottle in June 2019. Do I need to have a constant temperature over the next 6 months?

 

[Maylar]

50 degrees for aging is perfect.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Having looked at the temps people report here "not hot" seems great for aging. as for no fluctuations. it doesn't seem to matter. this is not an expert opinion, I am not a rocket surgeon, nor do I play one on the interweb